Ever had someone you cared about, misbehaving
and dumping their stuff on you? Ever been hurt by the not so
true, " tall tales " shared about you, maybe by
someone covering up for themselves?
    Little children do that to each other all the
time, before they learn to be responsible for their own
behaviors. Sadly, some never have the chance to learn that
lesson, because no one cares enough to take the risk to try
to help them learn it. The following is the success story of
one child and the people who loved him enough to risk that
love.
    There once was a boy whose mother didn't
know how to deal with his lying, cheating, and scheming
behaviors. She knew he was angry that his father had
abandoned them, and though she had tried to correct and help
him, nothing seemed to be working. One summer, she sent him
to stay at his grandparent's farm, and he came home from
visiting with them a completely changed boy.
    When she asked him what had happened, he told
her that every time he misbehaved, got caught and got angry
about it, Grandpa made him go to the barn and hammer a big
four-inch railroad spike into a four by four. It was hard
work, and he wasn't allowed to stop or do anything else until
the spike was all the way in. After about 20 trips to the
barn, he decided that behaving was much easier than hyammering
grandpa's spikes.
    "So Grandpa's punishment made this
wonderful change in you" she asked. "No," he
replied, "that was Grandma. After I hammered in all
those spikes for Grandpa, Grandma took me outside to the barn
one day and made me pull every one of them out, and that was
even harder than pounding them in!"
    "When I was done, she gave me this note,"
which he took out of his pocket and gave to his mother.
It said," Pulling out the spikes is like being sorry for
the bad things you did, but the holes you left behind will
always be there. You can never fix those, but you can stop
making new ones. Remember, that when you do soemthing ugly,
without thinking, or by mistake, you're making a big hole
somewhere, that you can never be completely fixed' maybe in
someone's heart. That is what your dad did to you. Please
stop and think what you are doing before you hammer any spikes
into anyone else. God made us for better things than
that."
    Then the little boy jumped up to hug his mom
around the neck. "I get it now, mom," he said,
"We don't need anymore holes around here."
    Can all God's children say AMEN?!
Peace be with
you,  
Pastor
Burkhart  
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